Nor did the effects of this diffusion of Horatian precept consist merely
in restraint upon the youthful and the impulsive, or confine themselves
to the drama, with which the _Ars Poetica_ was mainly concerned. The
persuasive and authoritative counsels of the Roman poet have entered, so
to speak, into the circulatory system of literary effort and become part
of the life-blood of modern enlightenment. Their great effect has been
formative: the cultivation of character in literature.
2. HORACE AND LITERARY CREATION
_i_. THE TRANSLATOR'S IDEAL
Besides the invisible, and the greatest, effect of Horace in the
moulding of character in literature, is the visible effect in literary
creation. His inspiration wrought by performance as well as by precept.
The numerous essays in verse and prose on the art of letters which have
been prompted by the _Ars Poetica_ are themselves examples of this
effect. They are not alone, however, though perhaps the most apparent.
The purer literature of the lyric also inspired to creation, with
results that are far more charming, if less substantial.
In the case of the lyric inspired by the _Odes_, as well as in the case
of the critical essay inspired by the _Ars Poetica_, it is not always
easy to distinguish adaptation or imitation from actual creation.
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